Let me set up some circumstances

[bobcholmes]

Playing devil's advocate - we are booked with RCL to the Med and Venice 5/15. Depart Houston for Barcelona (via Heathrow) on 5/13. Let's say that the volcanic ash, BA cabin crew strike threats, etc. preclude us from getting where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. Royal Caribbean booked my air, so, what is their responsibility in this case? And if similar happened when it was time to go home? What are the "mechanics" of an evolution such as this? What does who do? I'm just curious. There are certainly worse things than getting stuck in Europe for some period of time, but my bride of the past forty-six years is bugging me.:confused:

[cherylandtk]

Royal Caribbean booked my air, so, what is their responsibility in this case? And if similar happened when it was time to go home? What are the "mechanics" of an evolution such as this? What does who do? I'm just curious.

Good question, but I am sorry to say that Royal's responsibility is zero. They booked the air for you, but they are not responsible for the performance of the airline. Please read the sticky thread at the top of the page about Cruise Air explained and your cruise contract on the RCCL website. Sorry.

 

Trip Insurance (good insurance) is your best protection.

[shoesonfire]

Playing devil's advocate - we are booked with RCL to the Med and Venice 5/15. Depart Houston for Barcelona (via Heathrow) on 5/13. Let's say that the volcanic ash, BA cabin crew strike threats, etc. preclude us from getting where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. Royal Caribbean booked my air, so, what is their responsibility in this case? And if similar happened when it was time to go home? What are the "mechanics" of an evolution such as this? What does who do? I'm just curious. There are certainly worse things than getting stuck in Europe for some period of time, but my bride of the past forty-six years is bugging me.:confused:

 

Hi, Frank & Jan here from The Woodlands, TX - just saw your post. We are scheduled to leave IAH at 4:20 on BA Fl #194 on Thurs. 5/13. What time do you leave? We connect LHR to Rome for our cruise leaving Rome on 5/16. From all we've read, don't feel BA will get hit by a strike this week, not sure about when we return on 5/29 however. Besides the volcano problems, the baggage handlers in Italy are scheduled to strike from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. on 5/14 == we arrive FCO at 12:45 p.m. Lots of worries ahead of us too. We did our own air - have insurance, but its not much comfort if we can't get to the cruise ship or are missing our luggage. Maybe we'll meet at the terminal if our flights coincide and are not canceled. My husband is more optimistic than I am, keeping my fingers & toes crossed and saying extra prayers -- just in case!

[greatam]

Lots of worries ahead of us too. We did our own air - have insurance, but its not much comfort if we can't get to the cruise ship or are missing our luggage. Maybe we'll meet at the terminal if our flights coincide and are not canceled. My husband is more optimistic than I am, keeping my fingers & toes crossed and saying extra prayers -- just in case!

 

PLEASE have alternate plans available-ones YOU are willing to use, NOT what the airline offers. You need to search out alternate ways to get to your cruise BEFORE you leave home.

 

This from a post addressing essentially the same question:

 

 

"Too many depend on other people-cruise line, airline, etc to guide them. IF you have a GOOD TA (one that knows the airline industry, NOT a good cruise agent), that should be your FIRST phone call. IF not, alternative plans can generally get you further than others.

 

The TRAVELER needs to have the plan-THEN ask the airline to help you work it out. Depending on the airline reps to reroute you is often an exercise in futility. They generally look at the most direct/SAME route, as they figure most people are opposed to "out of the box" thinking. YOU need to provide alternate routings that are acceptable to you. Will you take a train, bus, rental car, ferry IF the airline gets you CLOSE to your destination? Will you accept a flight to another country and make an overland trip to your destination? Only you know the answers to that question. The airline reps will most likely NOT offer you the opportunity unless YOU bring it up.

 

A part of EVERY trip, whether cruise, land vacation or just going 100 miles to Grandma's house should include alternative planning and preparation."

[bobcholmes]

Hi, Frank & Jan here from The Woodlands, TX - just saw your post. We are scheduled to leave IAH at 4:20 on BA Fl #194 on Thurs. 5/13. What time do you leave? We connect LHR to Rome for our cruise leaving Rome on 5/16. From all we've read, don't feel BA will get hit by a strike this week, not sure about when we return on 5/29 however. Besides the volcano problems, the baggage handlers in Italy are scheduled to strike from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. on 5/14 == we arrive FCO at 12:45 p.m. Lots of worries ahead of us too. We did our own air - have insurance, but its not much comfort if we can't get to the cruise ship or are missing our luggage. Maybe we'll meet at the terminal if our flights coincide and are not canceled. My husband is more optimistic than I am, keeping my fingers & toes crossed and saying extra prayers -- just in case!

 

Yep, same flight. We're over here in Seguin. Have a sister in the Woodlands. We also have insurance, thru RCL, but I let them schedule our air and everything 'cause we were doing this trip the absolutely, positively easiest way for me. This is our first ocean cruise (I had enough of those in my twenty two years in the USN). We have gotten pretty fond of river cruising. Between the strikes and clouds, this should be interesting. Back and forth to Europe has always been a piece of cake. Things do have a way of changing, do they not? Take care.:)

[shoesonfire]

Hi Bob from Sequin: Spoke with BA this morning, agent said to keep our schedule as planned. He stated that BA management would be assessing the situation and would probably have personnel in place to handle baggage, HOWEVER, he did say there could be delays and BA would assist in getting us on the next available flight to Rome and get our bags to us in time to meet the cruise on Saturday. Not much else we can do from here. However, its a good idea if you check and print out all other flights to your final destination to aid you in working out options with BA in LHR if a delay/cancellation occurs.

 

Looking forward to an uneventful vacation.

 

Jan (from The Woodlands)

[bobcholmes]

Amen to the uneventful. Now if the Spaniards will keep on throwing their luggage....Barcelona is our final destination. Hopefully we can get out of Heathrow. Coming home, I really don't worry. We lived in London for over three years back in my Navy days, and it would give us an opportunity (albeit an expensive one) to look the place over again. Y'all have a good vacation. I'm optimistic also. That's pretty much what being sixty-seven does for you.

[marchanxiety]

Is there time to ship your bags directly? It's costly but might be worth looking into.